David Kirby has been nominated by US for tech specialist position in Pairs and Todd Goldstein for judge panel in Pairs, and Shawn Rhettstatt for judge panel in ice dance. Hopefully their names will be drawn.

I'm amazed by the amount of wishful/apprehensive thinking going on in this thread. No wonder figure skating is fast losing its popularity and credibility as a fairly judged/ruled sport, when the very fans of the sport are taking it for granted the anomalies/irregularities of judging in the sport. Another case of influenced or unfair judging in the Olympics in distorting the winning orders, it would be the nails on the coffin.

I hope we don't get to worry about a favorite panel composition, and us be alert, vigilant and outspoken againt influenced judging and rule making. People generally aren't worried about that kind of things in MLB, NBA, UEFA Champions League, and so forth. They've learned their lessons on what to do and what not to, to save their sports/events.

I'm amazed by the amount of wishful/apprehensive thinking going on in this thread. No wonder figure skating is fast losing its popularity and credibility as a fairly judged/ruled sport, when the very fans of the sport are taking it for granted the anomalies/irregularities of judging in the sport. Another case of influenced or unfair judging in the Olympics in distorting the winning orders, it would be the nails on the coffin.

I hope we don't get to worry about a favorite panel composition, and us be alert, vigilant and outspoken againt influenced judging and rule making. People generally aren't worried about that kind of things in MLB, NBA, UEFA Champions League, and so forth. They've learned their lessons on what to do and what not to, to save their sports/events.

Really? I don't see it that way at all. The causes of figure skating decline are way more complex than judging, so your analysis and conclusions are superficial at best. Your analogy to major team sports is also Huh? and as evidenced by plenty of scandal and chicanery in some of those sports (at no less than the governing body level in some--e.g. FIFA), so probably best not used as great templates for skating of what "fairness in sport" should mean. At any rate, scoring that is kept track of simply by balls achieved in goals and nets is a bit different than judging a complex collection of technical elements + performance/execution valuation.

^^ You're not getting my point. This thread is about a technical panel. If fans of the sport are worried about who's making the TECHNICAL calls at the biggest event, the sport is in deep trouble. And this sport is not in its early stage of development.

Sure, there are controversies and wrongdoings in other sports as well, but you don't see their fans discuss at length in apprehension on who will be in charge of making the calls. Of course influenced calls or result riggings can happen nonetheless, but they are PROHIBITIED and penalized. Can we say the same disciplinary action was taken on the results of, say, 2012 NHK Trophies ladies singles, even when a bunch of commentators cried out "injustice"?

We're also forgetting that the tech specialist will have to justify their calls and will most definitely be under scrutiny, and under fire if they exhibit blatant favouritism/bias. As the tech specialist, it's harder to hide than a judge subjectively giving PCS/GOE.

^^ You're not getting my point. This thread is about a technical panel. If fans of the sport are worried about who's making the TECHNICAL calls at the biggest event, the sport is in deep trouble. And this sport is not in its early stage of development.

Sure, there are controversies and wrongdoings in other sports as well, but you don't see their fans discuss at length in apprehension on who will be in charge of making the calls. Of course influenced calls or result riggings can happen nonetheless, but they are PROHIBITIED and penalized. Can we say the same disciplinary action was taken on the results of, say, 2012 NHK Trophies ladies singles, even when a bunch of commentators cried out "injustice"?

I'm aware of what the thread is about, and sorry, but you don't really seem to have much of a point at all. In fact, your interjection into this thread seemed rather....pointless. The rest of us are having fun speculating.